


Blood Is Thicker

by Lady_Phenyx



Series: Whumptober 2019 [21]
Category: Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson, 楽しいムーミン一家 | Moomin (Anime 1990)
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Gen, Vampires, ask to tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-12-21 11:10:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21073943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Phenyx/pseuds/Lady_Phenyx
Summary: Ninny's aunt did more to her than just make her invisible.Blood really is thicker than water.(...Tastier, too.)Whumptober Day 17: Stay With Me





	Blood Is Thicker

People avoided Ninny's Aunt.

Ninny didn't know why, and she didn't dare ask. She already knew she wouldn't be answered, and if she was, it would be sharp and sarcastic.

She had an idea, though. Aunt was polite enough the few times she had her committees over, but the sharpness and sarcasm was still there, under the surface.

Ninny wasn't as foolish or silly as Aunt scolded her for being. Even she could tell how little people enjoyed her Aunt's company, and only tolerated it for the sake of manners or their committees or their 'proper causes'.

Ninny tried not to show how uncomfortable her Aunt made her. She took Ninny in, was taking care of her...she made sure Ninny knew she should be grateful for that.

But...her hands were so cold, always so cold. And she was so pale. It was almost as if she had forgotten how to live, locked up inside this house as she was.

There was a gardener who came by once a week to tend to the gardens. That hemulen was the only company they had on any regular basis, and he wasn't allowed inside the house. Ninny wasn't sure why they had a garden, except that it was considered proper to have a flower garden outside ones home, since her Aunt never left the house to sit in it, and wouldn't let Ninny spend time in it either.

Aunt kept the curtains closed as well, and the house in a semi-permanent state of twilight.

Ninny hated it.

She longed for the sunshine, for the ability to run and shout and play.

But they weren't 'proper' activities for a young lady.

And so Ninny found herself trapped in the twilight world with her aunt, and only her aunt.

\---XXX---

Ninny had been living with her aunt for a week when the strangeness began.

Well, the second strangeness. Everything about her aunt was strange, to Ninny.

Ninny hesitated at the door to her Aunt's sitting room. “You called for me?” she asked hesitantly.

She had gotten the impression her aunt didn't want to see her unless she had a job for Ninny, and yet...

“Ah, there you are. Don't stand in the doorway, child, come in here,” her aunt said.

Ninny went in and stood in front of her aunt, waiting. It had only been a week, but she'd learned quickly not to assume she knew what her aunt wanted.

“Since we will be living together from now on, I have decided you will be a suitable companion for me once you've had a little training. We shall start with you reading to me.” Her aunt picked up a book and held it out to Ninny. “Well? Do I have to bring it to you? There, now sit in the light and begin reading aloud,” she said when Ninny shyly stepped forward and took the book.

Ninny sat and obediently read from the book, though doing so made her uneasy. The room was dark, and the only light was from the lamp Ninny was reading by, leaving her in a circle of bright light and closely watched by her aunt, while the rest of the room was so dark, Ninny couldn't see her at all.

Ninny read until her aunt stopped her, declaring that it was time for Ninny to go to bed.

\---XXX---

The reading was a new part of the routine. Each evening now, Ninny was to go to her aunt's study and read to her from a book her aunt had chosen.

They were dull books, of good little girls and boys, or eerie books, where the language was bland but something seemed to lurk beneath the words, some second meaning Ninny didn't understand, but most of them 'improving' books, with some sort of lessons.

And with each book, no matter how dull or upsetting, Ninny had to pay attention to what she read, as her aunt would quiz her on what she had learned from it the next morning.

There were chores, and her aunt's sarcasm, and fruitlessly trying to please her aunt, and all the while, Ninny grew more tired, paler, more alone.

She found interest in the newest book of her aunt's – a book of common myths. She didn't know why her aunt would allow such a fanciful book, let alone have it read to her, but she did.

And quizzed Ninny harder than ever on its contents.

Unicorns came to virgins.

Vampires could be in the sunlight, but had no powers until night fell.

Silver was considered pure and could hard all 'evil' creatures.

Werewolves could be born or bitten, and there was a difference in status between them.

On and on it went, and Ninny didn't understand why it was so important to her aunt that she know these things, but she was quizzed on them as strictly as she was 'proper' behavior and etiquette.

\---XXX---

Ninny felt very strange, and she knew something had changed over the past few weeks.

She barely every spoke, and then it was only “yes, ma'am” or “no, ma'am” or to read her aunt her book at night.

But she could barely eat – something she wasn't sure if was because of what was happening, or if it were her aunt's bland, strangely textured food, food that tasted as if the cook hadn't eaten in years – and she was thirsty all the time for the strange, thick drink her aunt served at meals, the one she had claimed was only for her when Ninny had begun living with her but which had started appearing by Ninny's plate at meals two days ago.

\---XXX---

Ninny huddled down in her bed, pretending to be asleep, having woken from dreams at the sound of her door.

Someone bent over her bed, and she thought she might still be dreaming, as it had the same unreal quality of a dream.

“My little companion, my helper. Soon you'll be perfect. The largest hurdle is over. And you'll stay with me, forever.”

Her aunt's cold hand passed over Ninny's hair and blackness surrounded her, sliding back into sleep.

\---XXX---

Ninny started disappearing the day after the strange dream.

It was almost as if she were reacting to the dream, as if something were trying to keep it from becoming a reality.

She didn't want to stay with her aunt forever, but she couldn't see any way out.

\---XXX---

Ninny's aunt was coldly furious about Ninny going invisible.

And yet, day by day, more of Ninny was gone.

Her aunt hung a small bell around her neck, and grumbled to herself about wasted time and potential, about the waste of some sort of gift (Ninny couldn't remember the last time her aunt had given her a gift, so she couldn't understand what she meant, and yet she couldn't have asked even if she'd dared).

Until somehow, her aunt contacted the woman called Too-Ticky, ostensibly to cure Ninny.

They both knew better.

“I can't make a companion of someone I can't hear or see,” her aunt declared.

Too-Ticky watched her aunt oddly, almost angrily behind her neutral mask, but spoke kindly to Ninny, leading her away gently to the home of the Moomins.

\---XXX---

A few weeks later, Ninny's aunt disappeared. No one knew what had happened to her or where she went, and most people didn't much care.

It took Ninny a while to process the fact that her aunt would never bother her again.

\---XXX---

Ninny didn't understand.

She loved it here – she was relearning how to play, she loved the Moomins, and it was like she had found all the siblings she'd once wished she could have, the playmates and arguments and everything that came along with it.

And Moominmamma's food was so good! She'd never tasted anything like it!

So why was she always still naggingly hungry? Just that little nagging that said she needed something she wasn't getting, but she wasn't sure what.

It took her awhile before she remembered Aunt's special drink, the one she'd been giving to Ninny before she left, the only thing Aunt seemed to eat.

But she had no idea what it could have been, and she didn't want to talk about her aunt yet.

She knew it worried Moominmamma when she was listless and still hungry, so she didn't bring it up to her. Ninny would do just about anything to keep Moominmamma from worrying.

Then, one day, as she and the rest were crossing the bridge and waving to Snufkin, pausing to speak to him, Ninny stopped short.

Snufkin was doing his laundry, which wasn't enough to stop her the way she had, to make her feel frozen to the bridge. He was washing his scarf and smock, leaving his neck bare, and Ninny couldn't tear her eyes from it.

He and Moomin were talking, and Ninny couldn't tear her eyes away from Snufkin's throat, the way it vibrated as he spoke, the smooth, clean column of it.

She had a sudden longing, so sharp and clear that she could see it. Of leaping down the bank, of dragging Snufkin close and pinning his arms so he couldn't fight her, of burying her hand in his hair to pull his head back. Of hearing him gasp as she sank her teeth into that throat and drank deep.

Ninny started as Snorkmaiden brushed against her arm.

“Are you okay?” she asked. “We were calling your name but you weren't answering.”

“I...I'm not feeling very well all of a sudden,” Ninny said in her still quiet, neat voice. “I'm going back for a bit.”

“Would you like someone to walk you?” Snufkin asked, watching with concern.

“No! I mean, no thank you,” Ninny said quickly. “I'm sorry.”

She spun on her heel and fled for the relative safety of Moomin House.

\---XXX---

Snufkin's throat was safely hidden behind his scarf the next time Ninny saw him.

She was more grateful for that than she could have explained – and more disappointed by it than she understood.

And she had no idea why she had ever wanted to do such a thing.

\---XXX---

Ninny thought the odd cravings would go away once she was all the way visible again.

She was living with Too-Ticky and her sister for now, and they were talking about making her a room at Mymble's (Too-Ticky's girlfriend) as well, for spring through fall. Too-Ticky didn't hibernate, but she lived in the Moomin bath house in the winter, and it would be a bit of a tight fit for both of them.

Ninny sought out Too-Ticky after a particularly bad day, when it felt as if she would die if she didn't find what she needed, when five minutes outside left her feeling sunburnt and exhausted. When she'd had a week of dreams, of creeping into the rooms of the people she loved and leaning over their beds. The dreams ended before she could find out what she had climbed in there to do, and she was afraid to find out.

She spilled out her heart to Too-Ticky, sobbing with her head laid in Too-Ticky's lap. Too-Ticky stroked her hair, letting her let it all out.

“She never told you, did she? What she did,” Too-Ticky said when Ninny had cried herself dry. “Wasn't sure myself how far it'd gone.”

“What's wrong with me?” Ninny asked, raising her head. “These dreams...I think I've had one for everyone I care about now. And the cravings...”

Too-Ticky kept stroking her hair, and when she smiled, this time, she showed her teeth.

And Ninny saw fangs gleam in the low light.

“Let me explain to you exactly what your aunt did to you.”

\---XXX---

Ninny stood at the at the edge of the woods on top of the hill, looking down over Moomin Valley.

She could see Moomin House clearly from here, and Snufkin's tent, where the lights were out and Snufkin's fire long dead.

Too-Ticky had explained everything, including exactly how it was done and why her aunt had done it – and why she'd been so furious at her aunt for it, though her impassive mask had barely broken at the time.

Ninny had thought long and hard after that. She even asked advice of Too-Ticky, and they debated it for the entire winter, Ninny flitting between the bath house and Too-Ticky's sister's home.

And in the end, Too-Ticky had agreed and would help.

There were certain people in Moomin Valley too precious to be allowed to grow old and pass away on them.

It wouldn't take much, and then they could all play together forever.

It didn't take much to satisfy the cravings. Just a little nip now and again. It wouldn't take them long to adjust at all.

With that in mind, Ninny made her silent way down the hill.

Snufkin's tent was silent when she reached it, and she could hear Snufkin inside, breathing softly and evenly, deeply asleep.

Carefully, Ninny opened the flap and slipped inside.

Snufkin gasped as her fangs slid into his neck but didn't wake.

And his blood was just as sweet as she'd thought it would be.

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to Sonic_Rider, who suggested I do something with Ninny's aunt when I said I wanted to do something with vampires. :D


End file.
